


Nothing good happens after 2 am

by Tedah



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bad Sleeping Habits, Established Relationship, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Stiles Stilinski is a Mess, Stiles writes a dissertation, and Derek loves him, but he's Derek's mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22942387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tedah/pseuds/Tedah
Summary: Derek makes sure Stiles takes care of himself, even if he has to drag him along kicking and screaming.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 12
Kudos: 290





	Nothing good happens after 2 am

**Author's Note:**

> This may or may not be inspired by real life. Only I have to be my own Derek because no one is going to be my impulse control for me, I'm surrounded by enablers.  
> Speaking of: thank you @onereader for checking this over before I sent it into the world.

It wasn’t cold exactly that Derek felt. Cold wasn’t a sensation a werewolf was particularly familiar with unless under extremely dire circumstances, but something was certainly amiss. He blinked slowly, trying to determine what had woken him up. It took him a few minutes to realize there was a stark lack of Stiles wrapped around him octopus-style. Stiles actually wasn’t in bed at all, not sprawled out taking up way more than his allotted half, not curled up in a ball hogging all the blankets, definitely not plastered against Derek’s back in a warm protective embrace.

The alarm on the nightstand showed a blinking 02:04 when he turned to look at it.

Derek listened out to try and hear if Stiles was just out for a trip to the bathroom or if there was a chance of joining him for a late midnight snack. It took him a moment to place the weird noise he heard in the silence of the night, echoing through the apartment. It didn’t register immediately but, to his defense, Derek had just woken up at 2 am and there was no sign of distress in Stiles’ scent. He actually smelled excited, oddly wired, almost aroused, and that was definitely the click-clack of his laptop keys. What could he possibly be doing at 2 am on his laptop that would make him leave the bed, let alone smell like that?

Derek pushed himself up with a sigh, rubbing the side of his face as he padded out, and followed the sound to the kitchen bar, where Stiles had set up a workstation, perched on one of the stools with a slightly manic look in his eyes. He didn’t seem to register Derek had walked in at all, so he had the time to slowly make his way to Stiles’ back and look at the screen.

“Stiles?” he called softly. He only got a vague hum in response.

“Stiles, what are you doing?” he leaned down resting his hand on Stiles’ shoulder as he tried to see what he was working on. As soon as Derek touched him Stiles startled and looked up at him.

“What are you doing, Stiles?” he asked again, an edge of warning in his voice. He was starting to have his suspicions on what the answer to that question might be.

“I… ah… Working on my dissertation?” Stiles offered, sheepishly.

“At 2 am?” he raised an eyebrow. Stiles glanced down at the corner of the screen and scrunched his nose.

“Sure looks that way...” he avoided admitting anything compromising.

“Why?”

“There is a perfectly reasonable explanation!” Stiles defended himself, starting to squirm under Derek’s gaze.

“Which is?”

“I woke up to pee and I looked at my phone for the time and there was an email notification right there on the screen. It was from my advisor about the last chapter I sent to him and he said it was basically perfect so I got excited and decided to get up and... work on the next section... right away, immediately...” his confidence faded the further along he went.

“At two in the morning.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement of fact. Derek hoped that if he repeated it enough the absurdity would sink in. Stiles just nodded.

“I was worried if I didn’t ride the sudden wave of motivation it would fade,” Stiles reasoned, and it might just be the late hour but Derek did see some logic behind it.

“We talked about this, you need to sleep or your body will give out on you. You can’t live on coffee and redbull alone.” He crossed his arms, staring Stiles down.

“But I’m almost done, look at it, the section is almost complete!” Stiles gestured insistently towards the screen, as if Derek could in any way judge how much there was still to write. Between the interrupted sleep and Stiles’ pleading eyes Derek didn't find it in himself to argue further. He sighed and sat down next to him.

“You have ten minutes, then you’re coming back to bed with me,” he stated, crossing his arms on the bar and resting his cheek on them.

“Sure thing!” Stiles replied, ruffling Derek’s hair a little.

“You better make them count,” Derek grumbled, closing his eyes as he listened to Stiles’ fingers tapping quickly on the keys. 

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but, in hindsight, closing his eyes had been a bit of gamble, especially next to Stiles smelling all happy and satisfied. When he blinked his eyes open he had no way of knowing how much time had passed, but he suspected a lot longer than ten minutes. A quick glance to the laptop screen confirmed that it was almost three.

“Alright, that’s it, time for bed,” he declared, pushing himself up. Stiles glanced up at him with badly concealed guilt over his face as he scrambled to keep writing.

“Stiles...”

“Just a little more, I swear, I just need to finish analyzing this essay!”

Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist, effortlessly lifting him up, ignoring his yelps and the flailing as he tried to keep his hands on the keyboard.

“Stop! no! put me down!”

“I’m going to put you down in a bed and watch until you go to sleep,” Derek replied.

“Like the big creep you are,” Stiles argued, wiggling to try and reach the laptop once Derek took a step back. “Just let me save it.”

Derek threw him over his shoulder and reached with his free hand to hit save. “There, done.”

Stiles stopped struggling after that and just hung limply over Derek’s shoulder, a little despondent. Derek hadn’t even gotten halfway back to the bedroom when Stiles’ hand sneaked down to knead his ass with a hum of “The view’s nice at least.”

He couldn’t help the chuckle at that. “Don’t even try, it’s three am, we’re going to sleep and, if you’re still in the mood, you can try again at a reasonable hour of the morning.”

“So bossy...” Stiles pouted. “You come in, manhandle a man, and expect him to do nothing about it,” he complained when he was delicately deposited on the bed. 

“Yes, I’m a cruel master,” Derek deadpanned.

For all his complaining he didn’t waste any time burrowing under the blankets, plastering himself against Derek’s side when he joined him in bed.

“You know I love you, right?” Stiles hummed when Derek wrapped an arm around his shoulders, holding him close.

“I know, just not quite as much as your dissertation,” he replied, dropping a kiss on Stiles’ forehead.

“It’s a tough competition, but I do believe you still come out on top.” Stiles stifled a yawn, getting comfortable with his head on Derek’s chest. “It’s close though...”

Derek smiled softly as Stiles’ eyes fluttered shut and his breath quickly evened out and he was out like a light.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave some love in the comments so I can get those good good endorphines and write my own thesis in a timely manner.  
> [My tumblr](https://tedahfromtayla.tumblr.com/) is also always open for a chat, don't be shy.


End file.
